Fiscal Fitness

On a journey to improve health and wealth!

About Me

Dido

Former academic turned accountant and financial planner.

My philosophy
Invest wisely and for the long term. Invest in yourself and not just in the market. While sometimes you need to be frugal to save funds to invest, at other times, spending more money in the short term will yield more valuable long-term results. Think about major decisions, THEN make saving for them automatic. Creating good financial habits and systems is key to success. The goal is not to die with the most money, but to live a full, meaningful, and satisfying life!

Goals for 2017
1. Job performance. Technical mastery--I'll be continuing to study for the CFP exam, targeting the November exam cycle (updated: take the exam in 2018). I have six more online classes to complete plus an exam review. Additionally, I want to feel that I have attained full mastery of all systems and software at my new position by the end of Q3 (revised from Q1). I'm making it a goal to complete assignments at least two days before they are due, to give myself time for self-review. I want to try getting in to work half an hour early and leaving work on time, rather than getting in just-on-time and staying an hour or more after everyone else is gone.

2. Take care of myself. Eat healthily (this includes an emphasis on whole foods and preparing my meals in advance), exercise consistently (aim for 10,000 steps a day and at least two strength training sessions a week), sleep enough, and make time to de-stress with a daily meditation session (or two). I also need to find a new primary care physican and work on increasing energy.

3. **This Goal is on hold for 2017--Getting my office organized is enough; the other goals are taking too much of my energy to make this practicable.** Get my house (including my financial house) in order. For 2017 that means hiring out some of this as well as doing some myself. I am targeting a big push for Q2 of the year. I also want to get estate documents in place and get a passport this year.

Debt Tracking
Not steadily downward--I left teaching in late 2009 and was underemployed for over 4 years and unemployed for 7 months of 2014, hence the upticks. I include here both mortgage debt (at $64,400 as of January 2017; 61,900 as of September and loans and credit cards. I plan to pay off the non-mortgage debt by the end of 2019, then increase the mortgage payments to pay that off by 2024 (8 years early). Also, as I get rid of the non-mortgage debt, I'd also like to start building funds in a taxable investment account, with the goal of having enough savings to cover two years of expenses post-retirement.

Archive for August, 2008

Yes, I've actually been buying coupons--but coming out better for it in the end, as long as I remember to use them--which I will.

Before I started couponing about a month ago, I never realized that people actually sell coupons on ebay. Actually, they don't sell the coupons themselves (I guess that is illegal)--all the sellers say that the coupons are free but you are paying for their time in clipping the coupons.

Buying coupons actually makes sense if you have a product that you use that (a) you won't accept a substitute brand for; (b) the product is relatively expensive; (c) you buy a large quantity of the product; and (d) either the coupons have no expiration date OR the product is non-perishable and you have storage room. The latter two requirements are because the sellers sell the coupons in batches, typically six or ten or twenty of the same coupon. Also, (e) the coupon should be for a high amount off.

I've done this for 3 products: my brand of soymilk (I drink Silk Unsweetened and will ONLY drink that brand; all the others taste bad to me; also, I drink at least a gallon of it a week); my dog's brand of premium dog food; and my brand of tampons (again, I'll ONLY use that brand). In each case, the coupons I bought were for either 1.50 or 2.00 off, so the discount is substantial. The soy milk coupons have no expiration date, and the other two have expiration dates but my dog eats a can of dog food a day, and the tampons will last ad infinitem so can be stockpiled. In buying coupons for a month's worth of dog food, a year's worth of soy milk, and a year-plus worth of tampons, I've saved--after the cost of the coupons--about $150. If I can couple the coupons with a sale (which I can in the case of the tampons), the savings will be even more. Not a bad profit for an hour's effort--once I figured the strategy out!